Author Jane Alison introduces us to her best childhood friend, Jenny, in her memoir, The Sisters Antipodes. In fact Jenny’s and Jane’s families strike up the kind of friendship that has them barbecuing together every evening. After all, they have so much in common. Both fathers are diplomats, one Australian, one American. Both families have two girls, who pair up as same-aged playmates. Then [...]
When I opened up Louise Dean’s The Old Romantic, I met a cast of miserable people being miserable to each other. There’s Nick Goodyew, who has spent his adulthood getting away from the kind of dad who talks like this: “[I]f you start to finkin about what other people are going through. . .” Or this: “[M]iserable excuse for a youman bein’.” Nick changes [...]
And how’s your mom day going? Maybe we should assign points for difficulty, just to see how you match up with Tracy McKay’s worst mom days, as described in her memoir, The Burning Point. I’ll give you: 3 pts. per child (Tracy has 3). 2 pts. per ordinary errand, (Tracy needs to go the grocery store, the YMCA, get kids to the bus). 5 [...]
Ann Patchett is getting to be a favorite author around here. Commonwealth, her latest, opens at an alcohol-fueled christening party. Imagine yourself, a cop, father of the new baby, opening the door to find a colleague ready to step across your threshold, uninvited. And by the time the party’s over, he and your wife are in love. Commonwealth wastes little time on the spark that [...]
Welcome to the blog’s new home! Some people build brick-and-mortar dream homes with the game-room basements and the just-right kitchens. I’m pretty sure I’ll never get around to that kind of thing. So I’m going to call this site my custom home. At least it’s better than the house author Amy Dickinson purchased in her memoir, The Mighty Queens of Freeville. […]
